I've a slightly different take on this. We all know that the away supporters are diehard fans, traveling the country at great expense to follow the Blues and always stay to the end.
Well, there's another group of diehard fans that for the most part go unnoticed and do not go home early. I live in Norwich and I'm a season ticket holder, a good round trip is nine hours (that would be a record breaker), but with toilet breaks and petrol stops a ten hour round trip is a result for my wife and I to get to the Etihad. I state this not for a round of applause but because we're not alone. Even out here in the sticks Blues in Kings Lynn, Ipswich and all points middle of nowhere make the trip regularly and I know, because my wife runs the supporters club out here, that other Blues schlep huge distances to get to a home game from all over the country. Most are exiled Mancunians but an increasing number of youngsters are not, though they usually have a Blue mum or dad.
In my experience and it is anecdotal, these long haul supporters (at least those that are driving, and that's the majority) never leave early, there's no point. Leaving early to avoid twenty minutes getting out of the car park is not an issue when it's five hours back whichever way you cut it. Besides, if you've come all that way to see the Blues you milk every second. So next time you hear a Suffolk or South Wales accent or whatever at the Etihad don't automatically think tourist, think about how long it took that Blue to actually get to the match and ask yourself whether you'd be willing to put that shift in.